Stopping and starting railroad-gars



B. MOROHAN. vvCar Starter.A

No' Slgfg` f PatentedJan.15,1861. l

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Wltnesses: Inventor= UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

BERNARD MOROHAN, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

sTcPPING AND STARTING RAILROAD-CARS.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 31,124, dated January 1861.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I7 BERNARD MoRoHAN, of Brooklyn, in the county of Kingsand State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Device forStopping and Starting Railroad-Cars; and I do hereby declare that thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, referencebeinO had to the accom an inv drawing b b i C? forming a part of thisspecification, in which- Figure 1 represents a plan or top view of myinvention, the platform having been removed to expose the working parts.Fig. 2 is a longitudinal vertical section of the same. Fig. 3 is atransverse vertical section of the same7 the line oo, F ig. 2,indicating the plane of section. Fig. 4 is a detached plan of one of theracks.

Similar letters of reference in all the figures indicate correspondingparts.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention I willproceed to de scribe its construction andr operation with reference tothe drawings.

The truck A is supported by four wheels B B which are secured to axles CC in the usual manner. Secured to the axles C C and supported by thesame by means of suitable loops or eyes are two bars D which form theguides for the slides E E and the rear ends of which are firmlyconnected by a cross bar a.' The eyes which retain the bars to the axlesare large enough so as not to interfere with the 'rotary motion of saidaxles and the bars are confined on the axles and prevented moving in alateral direction by wings b which are firmly secured to the axles oneach side of the bars as clearly shown in Fig. 1 in the drawing.

F astened in the cross bar a are two round rods c which form the guidesfor the springs F and which pass freely through sockets d in the innerslide E. Between the two slides and rml secured to the same are the tworacks G one above and the other below the axle C, as clearly shown inFig. 2 of the drawing and in different vertical planes or in a zig-zagposition as will be seen by referring to Figs. 1 and 3. The toothedsides of both these racks face toward the axle and they are at equaldistances from the center of said axle, so that a pinion H, which slideson the axle in a longitudinal direction can be thrown in gear witheither one of them. The pinion H turns freely upon the axle and it isrendered rigid with the` same by dogs e which are secured in the sidesand which strike against stops f inserted into the axle at the properpoints.Y These stops are so arranged that in whatever direction thepinion is moved its cogs come in gear with the teeth of one of the racksbefore one of the dogs o strikes the corresponding stop f, whereby aninjury to the edges of the cogs or teeth is prevented. The pinion H isof such a width that it can be brought in gear with both racks at thesame time and in fact its position is such that it would at all times be1n gear with both racks when placed in the middle betweenthem, but forthe teeth on the inner ends of said racks having been cut away half wayacross the width of each rack as clearly shown in Fig. l of the draw-Ing. A slide I, which catches over the sides of the pinion H and whichis operated by means of a three armed bell crank lever g, la., z',serves to shift the pinion on the axle, and the two arms g, h of saidbell crank lever connect by means of wires or rods lo with the arms Zwhich are connected to the lower ends of the vertical arbors m, m thatare situated near to the drivers stand or in front of the platform andwhich are operated by mea-ns of cranks a, n', suitable marks being madenear to said cranks to let the driver know in which direction the crankis to be turned. When left to itself the bell crank lever g, it, c' iskept in such a ,position that it retains the pinion in the centerbetween the two racks by means of a lip o which projects from the innerslide E and which is kept in contact with the edge of the arms g, h ofsaid lever by the action of the springs. The last teeth 79 ofthe tworacks are so arranged that they have a slight motion in a longitudinaldirection and they are retained in their position by means of spring g.

vThe operation is as follows: If the car is moving invv the direction ofthe arrow marked near it in Fig. 2 and it is desired to stop the same,the crank n is'turned so as to throw the pinion H in gear with the rackG. By the action of the pinion on the rack the slides E, E are forcedback against the springs F and said springs are compressed until the carstops. I'f the momentum of the car is so large that the rack is forcedclear back to its last tooth without completely stopping the forwardmotion of the car, the pinion strikes the yielding tooth and no injuryarises, whereas, if this tooth would be made rigid like the rest, theteeth of the pinion or the teeth of the racks would be liable to becomeinjured. As soon as the car stops, the pinion has to be shifted so as tocome in gear with bot-.h racks, or if this is omitted, the force of thesprings will have a tendency to drive the car backward or in a directionopposite to the arrow marked near the car in Fig. 2. If the car is to bestarted again in the direction of this arrow, the pinion 'is shifted soas to gear into the upper rack G and the strain of the springs has now atendency t0 drive the car forward. As soon as the force of the springsis expended and if the racks and slides arrive in their originalpositions, the lip 0 strikes against, the edge of the arms g, 71 of thebell crank lever and the pinion is shifted back to its position betweenthe two racks, thus allowing the axle C to rotate freely and withouteffect on the racks or springs. By these means the car can be stoppedwhen it is going in either direction and after it has been stopped, theforce of the springscan be employed to assist in starting the car ineither direction.

Having thus fully described lmy invention7 what I claim as new anddesire to secure by Letters Patent isl. The arrangement of the racks Gr,Gr with each other and with the sliding pinion H in the manner hereinshown and described, so that the teeth of the pinion before fullyleaving one' rack will necessarily engage with the teeth of the other.

2. The arrangement of the spring teeth p, p2 with the racks G, G in themanner herein shown and described.

3. The arrangement of the lip 0 and levers l BERNARD MOROHAN.

Witnesses:

C. W. COWTAN, JAMES LAIRD.

